User blog:VeRSSS31534/Using Buffy to fight Common Fears
Since the creation of the Vampire in early Slavic folklore, the creature has appeared as this blood-sucking, soulless creature. Throughout time, the character has evolved into handsome, alluring creature’s that an audience can find themselves connecting with. Joss Whedon does a wonderful job of achieving this through humanizing characters such as Angel and Spike. Why does the humanization or act of giving a vampire a soul, draw us closer into the character? It is because Whedon wanted to make something that resonated amongst his audiences. Vampires for Whedon were a tool in which he could tell the world of the nightmares and daily struggles that he fought with through adolescence leading him into young adult hood. The creatures that go bump in the night are what fueled him to create such a strong allegory for adolescence. When Buffy lost her virginity to Angel in Surprise/Innocence, he transforms into Angelus, his bloodsucking, soulless equivalent. This is a metaphor for how men can switch on a dime after performing a sexual act with a woman. Each week followed the structure of introducing a, “monster of the week.” The Scooby gang would solve the case and they would learn something new about their friendship. It really gave a new meaning to, “high school is hell.” Sunnydale High was literally on top of the hell mouth. This formula has lasted because these “monsters” were all something we could identify with. From the monsters and demons of season one representing teen angst (an invisibility spell being casted upon someone who felt invisible) all the way to Buffy sacrificing herself for a non-blood related sibling, these can all be seen as relatable and that is why the show is such a success. Fans grow up with Buffy and watch her make hard decisions and deal with death and loss in a way that she wouldn’t of earlier in the show where she was depicted as an airhead. (Whedon) Buffy wasn’t the first medium to use vampires as a manifestation of one’s fears. That is where the origin of a vampire comes from. In Jeffrey Cohen’s theory, “Thesis I: The Monster’s Bod is a Cultural Body”, he discusses how these creatures were written to discuss different culture’s fears and anxieties at a specific time. He writes, “The reason for all these differences is so the monster is able to embody, “a certain cultural movement” (Cohen, 4).'' Buffy’s'' cultural movement translated into a pop culture setting of a high school in the 1990’s. That was every teen’s nightmare at that time. Vampires in the dark ages were a manifestation of the fears that people had. People looked to superstition to help them make sense and explain the world around them. In the 19th century, men had fears over the sexual awakenings of the women in their lives, particularly young women. This fear was placed into the vampire of whom would frighten women with their sexual advances and even impregnate them with half-human hybrids. In Graham Stoker’s Dracula, ''Mina is sexually preyed upon by Dracula. Her character is the personification of innocence and Dracula is this monster whom is preying on these young men’s (such as Jonathan, her fiancé) fears. Another example is in the film ''Dracula, ''the vampire is to aware the audience of an epidemic at that time known as HIV. Through Dracula creating new vampires, Coppola creates a metaphor for how the disease of HIV can spread. These nightmares are what have kept the legend of the vampire going and is why ''Buffy is such a success. Outside Content: 1) http://www.fvza.org/vmyths.html 2) http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/10/14857542/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-explained-tv-influence 3) http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Innocence References: Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, Monster Theory: Reading Culture. U of Minnesota P, 1996 Dracula. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, American Zoetrope and Osiris Films, 1992. Stoker, Bram. "Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. Whedon, Joss. "Innocence." ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ''The WB. N.d. Television Category:Blog posts